TILE DRAINAGE. 15 



then these depressions thus tiled become dry, and tit for 

 tillage in spring time earliest of any part of the field, and 

 soonest after heavy rains, and the whole rectangular field 

 becomes one which it is a delight, and not, as formerly, a 

 weariness and irritation, to farm. I speak from actual ex- 

 perience here as elsewhere. 



Second. Removing the surplus water down through the soil 

 by means of tile drainage is better than removing it over the 

 top by surface drainage, because the former removes all the 

 surplus, not only that on the surface, but that in the soil 

 and subsoil. Even if the surplus is removed from the sur- 

 face, as it is naturally from rolling clayey lands, while the 

 soil and subsoil are still soaked full, tillage is delayed, and 

 plant-growth is practically suspended, and sometimes the 

 plants actually die. As before remarked, thousands of 

 acres of wheat in Ohio were thus killed during the past win- 

 ter of 1890. 



Third. Removing the surplus down through the soil by tile 

 drainage is best because it prevents loss of fertility by surface 

 wash. That loss from clayey lands not tiled is sometimes 

 immense. For example, the report of the Ohio Meteorolog- 

 ical Bureau shows that nearly ten inches of rain and melted 

 snow fell in Hudson during February and March, 1891. But 

 nearly all that amount was surplus water, to be removed by 

 some sort of drainage ; for the ground was already saturat- 

 ed, too wet, at the beginning of February, and there was 

 very little sunshine or wind to evaporate it, and little 

 growth, even of the wheat, to use the moisture. Indeed, 

 the wheat would have been better without a quarter as much 

 rain. Now, I have noticed the facts on my own wheat, a 

 little over 20 acres. Most of it was top-dressed with about 

 12 loads per acre, applied on a part of it with the wheat last 

 fall, and on another part plowed under for the preceding 

 crop, and brought to the surface when the land was plowed 

 for wheat. Nearly all the land 'is thoroughly tiled, with lat- 

 erals, most of them two and the rest three rods apart. The 



